Back in 2005, Cyber Monday kicked off the US and has become the biggest single online shopping day in the country (and possibly helped reduce the numbers of tramplings, brawls and taserings on Black Friday); in China, Singles Day is now the biggest online shopping day of the year worldwide; and a number of other countries have replicated these events. New Zealand has been a little late to this e-commerce party, but, following on from the success of its inaugural Click Madness event last year, The Warehouse Group is set to kick off another one on Friday 13 June.
The group doesn’t reveal online sales numbers, but it did say that online sales are growing at double digit levels year on year and its online store performs in line with the largest The Warehouse stores in the country. Chief executive Mark Powell said last year’s event racked up more online sales than Boxing Day, “which shows that Kiwis are savvy shoppers who have their eyes out for a bargain and an enormous appetite for online shopping”.
“Click Madness is essentially one day only of the greatest deals shoppers can get and as New Zealand’s biggest retailer group, we’re delighted to offer an event of this scale with amazing deals from technology to beauty products and sporting gear to everyday essentials. Retail is evolving rapidly and TW Group is embracing technology as we undergo a digital transformation with the aim of becoming New Zealand’s leading multichannel retailer so that we can continue to offer Kiwis new ways to get the best bargains.”
Deals from The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Noel Leeming, Red Alert, Torpedo7, 1-Day, ilovebeauty, pet.co.nz, No.1 Fitness and shotgunsupplements.co.nz are among the participants, as they were last year. And new this year is bargains from right across all TW Group businesses, including baby.co.nz, R&R Sport, Co.Label, TV International Brands (TVIB) and The Warehouse Financial Services.
During the lead up to the event, customers can register for more information and be in to win a range of prizes by signing up at www.clickmadness.co.nz or visiting www.facebook.com/clickmadnessnz.
The Warehouse launched last year’s event about two weeks ahead of a separate online sales event called Click Monday, which involved retailers like Hallenstein Brothers, Glassons, Stevens, Pascoes, Ezibuy, Briscoes and Bendon. Co-founder Cate Bryant estimated the event delivered between $1.5 million and $2 million in sales. And that number sat alongside 300,000 views on the deals offered by the nearly 70 participating retailers, 200,000 clicks delivered, the biggest single order value of $3,500 and sales uplifts of as much as ten times that of some companies’ baseline sales.
Powell said its plans were well advanced by the time Click Monday organisers asked if it would be interested in joining in with that event.
“We have enough scope to manage it ourselves,” said Powell. “We’re fortunate we now have a broad range of online offerings. We can put together enough to make it exciting across the group.”
In keeping with its push into online and what Powell calls its challenge of traditional shopping conventions, The Warehouse recently launched an app that laid competitor pricing bare across a broad range of categories.
